More than two weeks after Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” exploded onto the national scene and then imploded into a victim-blaming retraction, the story itself promises to live on—as a cautionary tale in journalism classes.

“[T]his will be an object lesson in reporting and editing, especially high-impact stories on an emotionally charged issue such as rape,” said Virginia Commonwealth University journalism Professor Jeff South in an e-mail. “The Rolling Stone story has been the subject of intense discussions in our reporting classes. Like the rest of the world, I think we were carried along as the pendulum swung from ‘devastating exposé!’ to ‘who knows what to believe?’.”

The charge largely was led by news organizations like The Washington Post, The New York Times and Slate, which pointed out some Journalism 101 omissions, such as not confirming first-year Jackie’s account of an alleged 2012 gang rape with people who would have been there that night, including the friends she said she spoke with and her alleged attackers.

Reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely and editor Sean Woods initially deflected questions about whether she’d attempted to contact “Drew,” the third-year Jackie said worked at a pool with her and invited her to a September 28, 2012, party at Phi Kappa Psi, where she alleged she was assaulted by seven men, with Drew and another man encouraging them on. Although Erdely spoke withC-VILLE days after the November 19 online publication of her story, neither she nor Woods responded to requests for comment on this article.

By December 5, the Post’s story detailing inaccuracies in Rolling Stone came out.Phi Kappa Psi denied the fraternity had a member who worked at the Aquatic & Fitness Center, and said there was no social event the night Jackie claimed she was attacked. Rolling Stone published an apology that pretty much blamed the victim.

“In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced,” wrote managing editor Will Dana on the Rolling Stone website. He said the decision not to contact the men was at Jackie’s request, for fear of retaliation.

South suggests Rolling Stone should have considered how the retraction would sound to readers, including Jackie and other sexual assault victims. “Are you really going to ‘blame the victim’ for errors in the story?” he asked.

“As a professional journalist, you can’t blame your sources,” said John Watson, associate professor of journalism ethics at American University. “That’s a cardinal sin.”

The retraction morphed that same day to shift the fingerpointing from Jackie back to Rolling Stone. “Given all of these reports, however, we have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie’s request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account,” read the latter version of the Rolling Stone apology, with no mention that it had been changed.

“This is symptomatic of the widespread dilution of ethics in the digital era,” said Watson, who cites a rush to get the story up first, and correct mistakes later. Part of a news organization’s credibility is based on correcting mistakes, acknowledging they’ve been corrected and letting readers know it will always correct mistakes, even if no one has noticed them yet, he said.

Watson said he teaches a class on how to write corrections. “Writing a blanket statement isn’t really helpful,” he said of Rolling Stone’s effort. The correction should be as detailed as possible, he said, and mimic the original story—even going line-by-line if necessary to parse out what is true in the 9,000-word story. The frequency of sexual assault on campus, for instance—”that data is still good and they should let people know,” said Watson. “They got a lot of attention, and they can still do good.”

Erdely’s problem, said Watson, is that she lost the skepticism that’s essential for a reporter, even if the source is a rape victim. “If Jesus Christ comes down, I have to be skeptical,” said Watson.

“A lot of what we do appears ugly and morally reprehensible,” he said, such as questioning a rape victim’s story. “But ethically it’s required.”

Reaction to the Rolling Stone story was also flawed, Watson said.

In shutting down fraternities and sororities, he said, “UVA acted too precipitously.” The University should have opened a proper investigation, but a news story is not evidence, he said. “Journalism isn’t about telling the truth because we don’t always know the truth. It’s about collecting the best evidence of the truth.”

The national organizations for sororities and fraternities agree, and on December 7 released a statement criticizing UVA President Teresa Sullivan’s “rush to judgment” in suspending Greek activities and demanded that the University immediately reinstate them, apologize and release all records that formed the basis for the decision to suspend activities.

“This decision was made before an investigation into all of the facts alleged in the story was completed and it was not consistent with the law or university policies,” said the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee, the National Panhellenic Conference and the North American Fraternity Conference in a statement. “The school’s decision to suspend hurt the reputation of thousands of outstanding student leaders in our organizations who had nothing to do with the alleged events described in the article.”

Watson doesn’t think the Rolling Stone debacle will hurt the focus on sexual assault on campuses spurred by the story—and the national fraternal orgs vowed to lead the fight against sexual assault. Sullivan seemed to concur in a statement released the same day as the retraction: “Today’s news must not alter this focus.”

December 10: In the original version of this story, Sean Woods’ name was misspelled. It has been corrected.

As he prepares to step down, the founder of the Southern Environmental Law Center looks back on three decades of defending the region’s natural treasures Ambitious and naive. That’s how Rick Middleton describes himself 33 years ago, when he founded the Southern Environmental Law Center,

Although revenue is up in Albemarle, and county exec Jeff Richardson presented a sunny forecast to the Board of Supervisors February 15, his $457-million fiscal year 2020 budget is based on upping the current property tax rate by 1.5 cents. He calls the budget, which increases spending 5.7

Last fall, after Burley Middle School unveiled a monument wall listing the names of students who attended the segregated school from 1951 to 1967, local activist Jimmy Hollins began circulating a petition to officially designate it a historic landmark. Burley is one of three operating Virginia

New kids on the bench The General Assembly appointed four new judges for the 16th Circuit, which includes Charlottesville and Albemarle, and two are for new positions to handle swelling caseloads. Juvenile and domestic relations court Judge Claude Worrell, 55, will move up to circuit court.

Phoebe Stevens is a pacifist. She says that’s why she wrapped her arms around Jason Kessler at his August 13, 2017, press conference as a crowd of angry protesters closed in on him. But after she knocked him down in the chaos, he accused her of assault and battery—a charge she was convicted of

Things were looking good for opponents of Virginia’s automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court costs. A federal judge had opined the state law is likely unconstitutional, a Republican state senator carried a bill that repealed the law, and it passed the Senate 36-4. Then

When Police Civilian Review Board member Katrina Turner got involved in her son’s February 1 traffic stop, a local defense attorney asked the city’s commonwealth’s attorney to determine whether she had violated the state’s conflict of interest act. At last week’s review board meeting, attorney

Valentines, imagine getting hitched this month. Then imagine celebrating your 75th wedding anniversary in February 2094. A 75th anniversary is so rare that the U.S. Census Bureau keeps no statistics on it. Estimates are that fewer than 0.1 percent of marriages make it to 70 years or more,

By Shrey Dua Daniel Devlin is a 20-year-old UVA student who’s been vaping since he was 18. If Virginia lawmakers get their way, he could soon face civil penalties for pursuing his habit. Last week, a bill that would raise the age to buy tobacco and vape products from 18 to 21 was passed by […]

Tyler Watkins Davis entered an Alford plea February 8, and though it’s technically a guilty plea, it means the man from Middleburg, Florida, is not admitting guilt, but acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him of malicious wounding in the brutal parking garage assault

A UVA facilities project manager jumped into the race for City Council February 6. Brian Pinkston said to dozens at The Haven, “I’m running for City Council because I want our city to recapture this vision of the common good.” He was introduced by former vice-mayor Meredith Richards, who noted

The complaint in front of City Council February 4 was pretty extraordinary: “Chief [RaShall] Brackney came out of nowhere and literally attacked me that night.” That it came from a member of the police Civilian Review Board was all the more astounding. At a February 5 protest in front of the

In 2010, Charlene Green, now head of Charlottesville’s Office of Human Rights, was directing the city’s first Dialogue on Race, an initiative to engage residents in an ongoing discussion of race, racism, and diversity. “As I was having discussions with people around the community on these

Local Goodwill stores collected 13,800 donations in the month of January —an 18.5 percent increase from those gathered this time last year. And they’re attributing it to a Netflix special about a now world-famous Japanese decluttering expert named Marie Kondo. Perhaps you’ve heard of her.

With Richmond in turmoil over Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface past and assault allegations against Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, it’s been hard to focus on the legislature. But the session is halfway through, and February 6 is crossover day, when each house sends the bills it’s passed

Albemarle Chief Deputy Chan Bryant got an unusual endorsement when she announced her run for sheriff as a Democrat January 30. Her boss, Republican Sheriff Chip Harding, introduced her and said that in his nearly 50 years of service in the justice system, she was in the top 5 percent of law

John Hall has run for City Council before. He’s also been banned from City Hall back in the early aughts because of behavior that caused then-city manager Gary O’Connell concern, such as showing up at City Council wrapped in foil, according to former councilor Rob Schilling. Hall

UVA announced the biggest donation in its history, from hedge fund quant Jaffray Woodriff, with much pomp and circumstance, including an appearance by Governor Ralph Northam. But not everyone was happy with the McIntire alum’s decision to spend $120 million on a School of Data Science. Some

A new proposal could turn empty retail space at the Seminole Square shopping center into much-needed housing. Great Eastern Management Company went before the city’s Planning Commission last week for recommendations before submitting an official application for what construction and development